WHY A CHARTER SCHOOL CURRICULUM?

Parents know that the choices they make for their children’s education can contribute to a bright future. That’s why choosing a charter school is an option that more parents are exploring today. Along with the vigorous and innovative curriculum comes accountability.

The charter school is tasked with delivering on its charter; its mission and vision for providing an exemplary education for its students. The accountability factor is a big reason parents like the charter school approach, and it’s one of the reasons they choose The School of Dreams Academy.

ALIGNED TO CORE STANDARDS

ENRICHED BY TEACHER-CREATED PROJECTS & VIRTUAL LEARNING

The focus of the school is to enhance student achievement through a rigorous curriculum aligned with the common core standards and utilization of instruction in the arts, literacy, character education, and community involvement through various service learning opportunities. Our core-based programs are research-based and are complemented by several virtual learning programs. These are further enriched with teacher-created projects and a repository of quizzes, journals, videos and additional materials to form blended modules that allow all of our students to benefit from individualized learning experiences.

Teachers in our school have the freedom to create and adjust curriculum so that the needs of every student can be met. Excellence is achieved through this attention to empowering all students to achieve to their maximum capabilities.

STUDENT LIFE

The School of Dreams Academy complements its strong academic program with a solid arts education initiative. Research shows that the arts (visual arts, music, drama, dance) can be a valuable tool to teach what is considered to be a “traditional” curriculum (Math, Science, English, Social Studies). Teachers at the School of Dreams Academy plan their lessons collaboratively to include the arts influence to instill in each of its students creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving ability.

Arts integration into the curriculum takes on a number of forms. Sometimes teachers use the arts to teach a lesson and other times students will use the arts to demonstrate their knowledge. Some examples of teachers using the arts to teach a lesson include: students participate in workshops with a visiting artist, exploring the science of sound (as part of a physics class) and mathematics of rhythm; use theater and dance to teach the concept of meiosis and mitosis; complete a sculpture and mobile project to reinforce the methods for calculating the surface area of geometric solids. The School of Dreams Academy follows the New Mexico Content Standards, Benchmarks, and Performance Standards for Visual and Performing Arts K-12 in the area of Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts.

FINE ARTS

Art Students learn different techniques in drawing and painting including how to create proportion, perspective, value and interesting compositions. Charcoal, graphite, scratch board, water color, acrylic paint, and pastels are just a sampling of different media students are able to experiment with on paper, canvas, and even the school’s walls as murals! Students keep a sketch book with them that is used for notes in Art History, sketches for homework, and observational journals.